Fertility & birth rates in Belgium and North Korea

Fertility rate in Belgium vs North Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Belgium was 1.47 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.78 in North Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Belgium vs North Korea population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Belgium	North Korea
1960	2.54	3.57
1961	2.63	3.26
1962	2.59	3.41
1963	2.68	3.63
1964	2.71	3.55
1965	2.61	3.56
1966	2.52	3.71
1967	2.41	4.05
1968	2.31	3.87
1969	2.27	3.86
1970	2.25	3.85
1971	2.21	3.74
1972	2.09	3.89
1973	1.95	3.35
1974	1.83	3.14
1975	1.74	3.05
1976	1.73	2.84
1977	1.71	2.77
1978	1.69	2.79
1979	1.69	2.85
1980	1.68	2.84
1981	1.66	2.92
1982	1.61	2.85
1983	1.57	2.78
1984	1.54	2.71
1985	1.51	2.65
1986	1.54	2.59
1987	1.54	2.53
1988	1.57	2.47
1989	1.58	2.41
1990	1.62	2.39
1991	1.66	2.35
1992	1.65	2.29
1993	1.61	2.22
1994	1.56	2.18
1995	1.56	2.15
1996	1.59	2.09
1997	1.6	2.03
1998	1.6	1.99
1999	1.62	1.97
2000	1.67	1.94
2001	1.67	1.94
2002	1.65	1.92
2003	1.67	1.91
2004	1.72	1.9
2005	1.76	1.87
2006	1.8	1.94
2007	1.82	1.94
2008	1.85	1.97
2009	1.84	1.91
2010	1.86	1.89
2011	1.81	1.88
2012	1.8	1.88
2013	1.76	1.88
2014	1.74	1.87
2015	1.7	1.86
2016	1.68	1.86
2017	1.65	1.85
2018	1.62	1.83
2019	1.6	1.83
2020	1.55	1.82
2021	1.6	1.81
2022	1.53	1.8
2023	1.47	1.78
2024	1.47	1.78
2025	1.48	1.77
2026	1.49	1.75
2027	1.49	1.74
2028	1.5	1.73
2029	1.51	1.73
2030	1.51	1.72
2031	1.52	1.72
2032	1.52	1.71
2033	1.53	1.71
2034	1.53	1.71
2035	1.54	1.7
2036	1.54	1.7
2037	1.54	1.7
2038	1.55	1.69
2039	1.55	1.69
2040	1.56	1.69
2041	1.56	1.69
2042	1.56	1.69
2043	1.57	1.69
2044	1.57	1.68
2045	1.57	1.68
2046	1.57	1.68
2047	1.58	1.68
2048	1.58	1.67
2049	1.59	1.67
2050	1.59	1.67

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Belgium	North Korea
1960	23.7%	37.5%
1961	23.8%	37%
1962	23.8%	36.6%
1963	23.9%	36.5%
1964	23.9%	36.6%
1965	24%	36.7%
1966	24%	37.3%
1967	23.9%	38.3%
1968	23.9%	39.2%
1969	23.8%	39.8%
1970	23.6%	40.1%
1971	23.5%	40.3%
1972	23.3%	40.2%
1973	23%	39.8%
1974	22.6%	39.3%
1975	22.2%	38.8%
1976	21.8%	38.3%
1977	21.4%	37.7%
1978	21%	36.9%
1979	20.6%	36%
1980	20.3%	35.1%
1981	19.9%	34.2%
1982	19.6%	33.1%
1983	19.4%	32%
1984	19.1%	30.9%
1985	18.8%	29.9%
1986	18.6%	29%
1987	18.3%	28%
1988	18.2%	27.3%
1989	18.1%	26.8%
1990	18.1%	26.5%
1991	18.2%	26.4%
1992	18.2%	26.3%
1993	18.1%	26.4%
1994	18.1%	26.4%
1995	18%	26.4%
1996	17.9%	26.3%
1997	17.8%	26.2%
1998	17.7%	26%
1999	17.7%	25.8%
2000	17.6%	25.6%
2001	17.5%	25.3%
2002	17.5%	25%
2003	17.3%	24.6%
2004	17.2%	24.3%
2005	17.1%	23.9%
2006	17%	23.4%
2007	16.9%	23%
2008	16.9%	22.5%
2009	16.9%	22.1%
2010	16.9%	21.6%
2011	17%	21.2%
2012	17%	20.8%
2013	17%	20.4%
2014	17%	20.1%
2015	17%	19.8%
2016	17%	19.6%
2017	17%	19.4%
2018	16.9%	19.2%
2019	16.9%	19.1%
2020	16.8%	19.1%
2021	16.7%	19.1%
2022	16.5%	19%
2023	16.3%	19%
2024	16%	18.9%
2025	15.7%	18.9%
2026	15.4%	18.9%
2027	15.1%	18.8%
2028	14.9%	18.7%
2029	14.6%	18.6%
2030	14.4%	18.5%
2031	14.2%	18.3%
2032	14%	18.1%
2033	13.8%	17.9%
2034	13.6%	17.6%
2035	13.5%	17.4%
2036	13.4%	17.1%
2037	13.3%	16.8%
2038	13.3%	16.6%
2039	13.3%	16.3%
2040	13.4%	16.1%
2041	13.4%	15.9%
2042	13.5%	15.7%
2043	13.5%	15.5%
2044	13.6%	15.4%
2045	13.7%	15.3%
2046	13.8%	15.2%
2047	13.8%	15.2%
2048	13.9%	15.2%
2049	13.9%	15.2%
2050	13.9%	15.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in Belgium and 18.9% in North Korea in 2024, compared to 18.1% and 26.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Belgium and North Korea compared.

Natural population change in Belgium vs North Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in Belgium and +0.42% in North Korea. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Belgium	North Korea
1960	40,275	277,717
1961	52,349	257,788
1962	42,414	286,534
1963	41,804	321,805
1964	51,580	323,623
1965	39,748	335,587
1966	36,206	363,882
1967	31,618	414,632
1968	20,199	399,837
1969	21,221	404,189
1970	23,173	406,129
1971	21,281	393,220
1972	18,451	411,997
1973	11,690	338,600
1974	7,818	306,902
1975	0	288,966
1976	1,964	255,841
1977	8,847	242,870
1978	7,872	243,533
1979	11,818	251,409
1980	10,845	255,206
1981	11,831	273,800
1982	7,885	276,332
1983	2,956	279,046
1984	4,927	282,987
1985	2,958	287,714
1986	5,917	293,227
1987	11,844	296,030
1988	14,853	299,305
1989	13,912	303,078
1990	19,935	312,460
1991	22,010	320,551
1992	20,090	324,002
1993	14,118	320,880
1994	12,139	320,861
1995	11,150	233,381
1996	12,188	226,095
1997	12,218	211,325
1998	9,183	197,589
1999	9,203	181,613
2000	12,302	161,591
2001	11,315	143,321
2002	7,233	119,504
2003	7,263	178,775
2004	16,673	155,838
2005	15,718	132,765
2006	21,096	129,171
2007	23,376	120,521
2008	22,491	122,015
2009	23,752	111,530
2010	23,970	112,443
2011	25,388	114,798
2012	18,882	118,773
2013	16,739	122,519
2014	21,297	127,078
2015	11,274	127,365
2016	14,731	125,048
2017	10,238	120,181
2018	7,999	113,164
2019	8,042	106,208
2020	-12,692	95,920
2021	5,793	99,710
2022	-2,336	96,495
2023	0	86,203

Maternal mortality chart: Belgium vs North Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in Belgium, compared to 67 deaths in North Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Belgium	North Korea
1985	9	76
1986	9	68
1987	9	62
1988	9	55
1989	9	49
1990	9	43
1991	9	38
1992	9	37
1993	9	46
1994	9	57
1995	9	127
1996	9	128
1997	8	128
1998	8	129
1999	8	129
2000	8	129
2001	8	130
2002	7	131
2003	7	76
2004	7	77
2005	7	78
2006	6	80
2007	7	80
2008	6	79
2009	6	78
2010	6	77
2011	6	76
2012	5	76
2013	6	75
2014	5	73
2015	5	72
2016	5	71
2017	5	70
2018	5	69
2019	4	66
2020	4	66
2021	7	72
2022	11	67
2023	4	67

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.36% in Belgium and 1.8% in North Korea. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Belgium	North Korea
1960	3.39%	11.6%
1961	3.25%	11.2%
1962	3.12%	10.8%
1963	3%	10.4%
1964	2.89%	9.92%
1965	2.79%	9.46%
1966	2.7%	8.96%
1967	2.62%	8.45%
1968	2.55%	7.94%
1969	2.48%	7.45%
1970	2.39%	6.99%
1971	2.3%	6.58%
1972	2.19%	6.2%
1973	2.08%	5.86%
1974	1.97%	5.56%
1975	1.86%	5.28%
1976	1.76%	5.03%
1977	1.67%	4.8%
1978	1.59%	4.59%
1979	1.52%	4.4%
1980	1.45%	4.22%
1981	1.39%	4.05%
1982	1.33%	3.91%
1983	1.27%	3.8%
1984	1.22%	3.71%
1985	1.18%	3.68%
1986	1.14%	3.68%
1987	1.1%	3.78%
1988	1.07%	3.83%
1989	1.03%	3.95%
1990	1%	4.07%
1991	0.96%	4.18%
1992	0.92%	4.25%
1993	0.87%	4.27%
1994	0.82%	4.25%
1995	0.77%	10.8%
1996	0.72%	10.6%
1997	0.67%	10.5%
1998	0.64%	10.3%
1999	0.61%	10.2%
2000	0.59%	10%
2001	0.57%	9.9%
2002	0.55%	9.78%
2003	0.53%	3.45%
2004	0.52%	3.38%
2005	0.5%	3.33%
2006	0.49%	3.28%
2007	0.48%	3.24%
2008	0.47%	3.1%
2009	0.46%	3%
2010	0.45%	2.87%
2011	0.44%	2.72%
2012	0.43%	2.57%
2013	0.42%	2.41%
2014	0.42%	2.26%
2015	0.41%	2.14%
2016	0.41%	2.06%
2017	0.4%	1.91%
2018	0.4%	1.84%
2019	0.39%	1.77%
2020	0.39%	1.74%
2021	0.38%	1.74%
2022	0.37%	1.77%
2023	0.36%	1.8%